September 17-20, 2011, Chicago

Boehringer Ingelheim's novel integrase inhibitor candidate BI 2244336, which works by a different mechanism than existing drugs in its class, demonstrated potent antiviral activity and a good pharmacokinetic profile in a series of early studies presented at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC 2011) last month in Chicago.

HIV strains showing resistance to protease inhibitors, or to all 3 of the earliest classes of antiretroviral drugs, have become less common over the past several years, making it easier to construct effective regimens, researchers reported at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC 2011) last month in Chicago.

Ibalizumab (also known as TMB-355, formerly TNX-355) -- an antibody-based therapy for HIV -- was well-tolerated and significantly reduced viral load over 24 weeks when used with optimized background therapy, researchers reported at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC 2011) last month in Chicago.

Two injections of Dynavax's investigational Heplisav hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine protected adults over age 40 as well as the standard regimen consisting of 3 doses of the Engerix-B vaccine given over 6 months, researchers reported at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC 2011) last month in Chicago.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing and anal Pap testing can detect abnormal cell changes that could progress to anal cancer in HIV positive gay men at an earlier and more treatable stage, and is likely to be cost-effective, according to a study presented at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC 2011) this month in Chicago.